Away from the probing surveillance of Special Branch intelligence agents, a Burmese editor ticks off the recent stories the Press Scrutiny and Registration Department, Burma’s powerful state censorship body, would not allow him to publish. The banned topics were wide-ranging: volatility in fuel prices; recent land purchases by Chinese investors around the city of Mandalay; a shortage of fresh water near a southern coast development.
After his paper published a seemingly innocuous story about the falling price of SIM cards—without the censors’ approval—authorities reacted swiftly in suspending the publication for two weeks. “We are pushing the limits as much as we can,” said the editor during a recent trip to Bangkok. As a small sign of success, he pointed to the publication of a recent series on the struggles of farmers facing high debts. But the censorship process remains arbitrary, intensive, and highly restrictive. “It’s like fighting with a spear while on horseback to get news published. ... We must prepare many extra stories each week to fill the spaces for stories that will inevitably be cut,” said the editor, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisal.